Musicians and shopkeepers return to the Stop shopping center today at 10:30 am, after the Porto Municipal Police sealed more than a hundred stores, studios and rehearsal rooms on July 18 for lack of licenses.
After the closure that left almost 500 artists and shopkeepers with “nowhere to go”, the understanding between musicians and the Porto City Council was consummated on Wednesday, with the two associations accepting the conditions of the municipality to reopen the Stop.
Musicians and shopkeepers return today to the shopping center which now has a fire engine with five operatives permanently.
To be able to attend the space safely, most users will receive a four-hour training given by the fire department.
The reopening of the Stop maintains, however, a temporary character until the municipality realizes if the diagnosis of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) determines if the space can function as it is, admitted the mayor in statements to journalists.
The measures proposed by the municipality had, however, already met with the consent of the condominium’s management, which signed the term of commitment and responsibility on July 24, the day when musicians and shopkeepers demanded, in front of the town hall, the return to the space.
The artists were joined by hundreds of people who paraded through the streets of Porto to the shopping center, under the motto “Stop is ours and will be”, claiming the importance of that cultural center in the city.
The proposal to reopen the shopping center was initially received with caution by the two musicians’ associations, and Alma Stop, days later, presented a counter-proposal, a document that motivated the resignation of the president of the Cultural Association of Musicians of Stop, Rui Guerra.
As an alternative to the shopping center, the council presented as solutions the Pires de Lima school or the last floors of Silo Auto.
The possibility of the musicians moving “permanently or temporarily” to the Pires de Lima school remains on the table, the mayor assured.
Anticipating that the structure will be partially completed by the end of the year, Rui Moreira, clarified that the ‘campus’ project is moving forward and that it already has the agreement of the administration of Amigos do Coliseu [led by musician Miguel Guedes], who will manage the structure.
For the musicians, both Silo Auto and Pires de Lima “lack the conditions to house the entire Stop community”.
Opened in November 1982, the Stop shopping center has been operating for more than 20 years as a cultural space and several fractions of its floors are used as rehearsal rooms or studios by various artists.
